If I could design a school before it was built

Curtis Ryan Cheng

SOCIOLOG 2144B 001

Empathize

Although there are countless schools all over the earth, each one is different. Whether it

is the teachers, course material, and especially the presentation of the school, each school is

unique. Most importantly, the way that each learning environment looks and what is included in

the school can largely influence the perspectives of all who work and learn there. Because of

this, the design of a school, and the presentation of how the school both looks and functions;

including the pedagogy, organization, and design of the school, play a huge role in how both

teachers and students react, function, and achieve success. Looking around most schools, the

primary function of the educational system is based on formality; this reflects Carl Marx’s

educational beliefs during his time of education. To this day, I believe that we are still fixated on

this education program of organizing students and presenting teachers as a symbol of order.

However, from the perspective of many students, giving teachers total authority can be

conflicting and restrictive for many students, as each student has different learning capabilities

and skills, which are usually not explored or developed within a strict, preplanned class or

curriculum. Having a preplanned curriculum is also sometimes frustrating for the teacher, since

the teacher may not always agree with what they are being asked to teach. I think that the biggest

problems which need to be solved within our education system are allowing students more
flexibility and individuality within their education, reducing class sizes which would make this

individual approach much more accessible and achievable for the teachers, and introducing more

useful classes that the students can take which would improve their enthusiasm towards

attending school.

Define the problem

We see a lot of times when students start school, they feel motivated and are curious to

learn more. However, as they grow up, they come back unmotivated, starting to talk about how

it's a duty, school being boring, and how they feel like the definition of school is only about

learning information, that most of the time they find useless or too difficult. In contrast to this

approach of a strictly regulated education system, when students think about and describe having

free time or having a more personal or less regulated assignment in school, the perspective of the

student completely changes. The child becomes more motivated, and this results in a positive

approach and enthusiastic execution of the child’s schoolwork. Because of these observations, it

is clear that many school approaches are not based on the positive effect that the student would

have. We've seen many cases before and even in my experience where the parent goes to the

parent-teacher interviews and this question is asked; “How is my child succeed in their studies?”

Then in many scenarios, the teacher often says that the student could improve their focus or their

amount of effort, which causes the parents to also lecture the child, causing even more negativity

to be related to school and school work. Rarely ever does the parent or even teacher ask, “How is

the child socially, is he/she happy?” Oftentimes, the normal response would be that there will

always be students who are shy, slow-learning, or anti-social within a class of around 30 or more
students and that there will always be some children which just can’t follow instructions. Instead

of just accepting that not all students can be taught, more attention needs to be reflected towards

these students especially, because if from a young age a child is told that they are not intelligent

or that they do not fit in, they could develop emotional and mental health issues within their

adolescence and adulthood! Focusing on developing a more open-minded curriculum, and more

individualized class execution could make a difference for many children, helping them find

confidence and strive in school in whichever way is best for them.

Ideate

Throughout whatever stage of life, we are in, we never stop learning, however, the things

that we learn within our early years seem to stick with us the most! Keeping this in mind, when

inquiring about creating a brand new school, the most important thing I want to be implemented

is motivation and positivism. A school that will meet every need for a child's success; a school

from which the child enjoys more than being at home. To do this, I would have to think of it

universally and focus on 3 main groups; the pedagogy, the design, and the organization of my

school. This being said, there is no simple way for educators to find a perfect solution to aid each

student in achieving greater success. On one hand, the problem cannot be fixed by simply

reassigning educators to a new schooling system, and on the other hand, you cannot allow

educators to continue their pedagogy methods within the new schooling, as this would be

redundant. Therefore the design of the school must be discussed together with both the educators

and the designers right from the beginning stages, to establish what is needed and how it can be

achieved within this new environment. It is important to understand that learning can come in
various forms for students and educators. In this school, the education program will consist of 4

learning programs that can be suited for everyone; visual, auditory, read/write, kinesthetic.

Within these programs, the formation of these categories should not incorporate a typical school

setting ie; in which the students are formalized in rows of desks. Replacing desks, the

environment will be more diverse, where students can choose to sit on the floor if they feel

comfortable, or they can have the option of sitting in different seats, such as couches, bean bags

or reclining wheeled chairs. They could also be provided with clipboards to write notes, or they

can choose to write their notes on an iPad or laptop if they wish. This would create an

environment that can accommodate everyone's physical comforts and needs. A simple change in

these physical aspects would already greatly improve a child's enthusiasm, benefiting their

motivation and therefore, benefiting their educational experience. Essentially, this school would

additionally have a very flexible environment that includes all the resources that will be

sufficient for the children and educators. A lot of times when schools want to change or

educators want to change within the education program, they tend to focus on such minor

conflicts. Ideas such as, providing better chairs for the students or providing more material which

can be linked to technology. Although it's great to suggest these ideas, I believe what is

misunderstood and neglected is that regardless of the school system, educators are the most

flexible individuals who are capable of making a change in their schools. Of course like any

project that is built for the first time, nothing ever turns out perfect as multiple problems may

occur, such as the cost, the actual application of the system, and the viewpoints of the parents.

Who is going to fund this project, the community? the school board?. Or are parents going to

question why they should send their child to this institution when they receive, the same, if not
more organized education at a regular public school? Does the education they retain allow them

to be successful? If my child is a kinesthetic learner, will he/she be a distraction to other

non-kinesthetic learners? Since this school sounds as if it has no walls, can my child concentrate?

What if the system is too individualized and the students feel segregated from each other?

Prototype

The most important thing in this project is to give the students the feeling that they are

individuals and they are different and are not hindered by the school; that there are resources to

accommodate to develop the personal growth of their education. Essentially this is a school that

respects the students. This is where Weber's and Durkeiheim idea comes to mind when thinking

about “Structure and Change in society”. Although we cannot foresee the future, this is the best

way to incorporate skills for them within the future, because this system prepares them better and

more efficiently. This school has planned a specific area in which one child can succeed in their

education in the form of a group talk or another child which prefers to be in a quiet spot to

understand concepts can also be accommodated for, etc.. Rather than looking at this institution as

a “school” per se, this project instead is essentially a flexible environment that accommodates for

the basis of one’s needs. It is a positive, welcoming environment for children to grow in, rather

than to be lectured or forced to do tasks that they may not wish to. This institution heavily

focuses on the student’s personal educational development that will allow them to succeed in

their way of being. I believe that the current educational system is trying to accommodate

students with more flexibility by incorporating more technology within their studies, however far

too many schools still are way too rigid with the assignments expected from the students, and
also with the material that they expect the students to learn. I think alternative ways to allow

more students more success is by adding to the number of classes that are currently offered to

students and allowing them to decide which education program would interest them more.

Making classes smaller would allow the teachers to get to know the student's personalities more

intimately, allowing teachers to adjust the learning needs to the students, and finally changing the

design to something more diverse and exciting would also play a huge role in boosting the

overall mood and learning capabilities of students.

Test

In any test of a product or design, it is best to reach out to a small group of individuals

first so you can first get a raw review. However, this is not an open school for everyone just yet,

we need to make sure that the students that are invited in the first stage all have different learning

skills, as well as different needs and wants out of their education, to fully test what this school

accommodates for. I would first ask them how they feel about the multiple different seating

accommodations which would be included in the classroom, seeing which ones they like the best

and asking them if they think that there should be more seating or furniture within the room. I

would also ask them the number of students that they would feel would be a good amount within

a classroom of that size, and if they think that they would prefer classrooms of 10, 20, or 30 other

individuals. Then I would present them the 4 different types of learning that the institution offers,

based on the learning skills of each individual, and see if the tasks that the learning skill focuses

on is successful in teaching the student easily, while also keeping the student motivated to
succeed in the task. I think what would make this test challenging, is if some students are unsure

of which learning skill they would rather try working with, and many children are unsure of what

type of learner they are, or they learn in multiple different ways so they might want to try more

than one specific avenue of learning the same material. This, however, may be beneficial, since

children can try different learning skills for each assignment, and eventually they will discover

themselves which opportunity for learning is best. That’s why I believe that testing should not be

done strictly, instead, testing should be done based on the task that they complete, and it should

not be discouraging to the students whether they do not do a good job on one learning avenue, as

compared to a different one. I think the main aspect that should be tested is that even though the

students may not succeed in specific assignments, they should always be encouraged for them to

feel motivated, and above all, for them to better discover themselves and their passions.

Whatever a student may be asked to do, the result is always a success if the student does it out of

free will and genuine interest.